De Klerk rejects link to apartheid crimes

Former South African President FW De Klerk today insisted he knew nothing about any atrocities or assassinations committed during his leadership.

He also said if there were to be any further prosecutions of apartheid era crimes, then this should be done in a balanced way and include former African National Congress guerrillas as well as members of the white security forces.

At a press conference, De Klerk angrily rejected reports in South African newspapers that former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok might implicate him during his forthcoming trial.

Vlok is accused of the attempted assassination of Frank Chikane, the former head of the South African Council of Churches who is now a senior government official.